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Factor 5 absolves itself over Lair being a big pile of wank photo

To say that Lair has not received the warmest of welcomes by reviewers is to perhaps put things a tad mildly. A long time in development and the usual make-or-break hype has not done enough to stop people panning Factor 5's big PS3 expedition. Well, people who aren't obsessive Sony fans, of course. Unlike said fans, Factor 5 can at least admit when something sucks, but it seems the developer won't admit its own hand in that suckage.

"That is exactly the kick of creating a first-year game: exploring the not-yet-finished hardware and growing the technology while the hardware is coming together," claimed director Julian Eggebrecht when talking to MTV's GameFile. "I think both Rogue Leader and Lair gave a good stab at poking into the depths of the systems for such early titles, and from that you have a second-generation growth opportunity that surpasses most developers that jump onto the bandwagon later."

Shrugging and practically saying "at least we tried" seems to be the order of the day for Lair, but Eggebrecht was keen to make sure that Factor 5 was as blameless as possible for Lair's less than stellar reviews. In a move that would be hilarious if it wasn't rather pitiful, Eggebrecht claimed that the controls were far too 'casual' for those big, mean hardcore game reviewers who apparently hated Lair because they despise anything with motion control.

"The Sixaxis motion control itself feels a lot more organic and free-form than the rigid controls of other flight games and does much better for casual players, as we saw in focus tests. It does seem to alienate some reviewers who are at the top of the hard-core crowd and seem to have a passionate hate for all things motion." I'm not even commenting on that. Such stupidity speaks for itself. 

[Thanks, TheGoldenDonut] 


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68 comments | showing # 51 to 68

908peruvian's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 11:38
908peruvian
WOW!!

i'm staying away from LAIR!!!

thank God i'm still playing Bioshock
and
Burnout Dominator

deanhatescoffee's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 11:58
deanhatescoffee
I watched a few people play Lair at PAX. The graphics are pretty, but the gameplay was so slow that it seemed like it wouldn't even be fun to try. It's not just the controls, Factor 5; it's the game.
hollywooda's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 12:03
hollywooda
"C'mon people now,Smile on your brother Ev'rybody get together Try and love one another right now"
DinnertimeNinja's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 12:13
DinnertimeNinja
Hey, does anyone else see the irony in stating that REVIEWERS are too hardcore to like the game? I know I've frequently heard complaints about reviewers always being too CASUAL to get more in depth games. Basically they just play it through and complain about hard spots because they're not skilled enough.

Fighting games, in particular, are often TERRIBLY misjudged by the reviewing populace because the people reviewing it just aren't GOOD at the damn game so they compare it to an easier fighter and say it's worse.


As for Action Bastard up there,

You say that the game shouldn't be considered bad just because OTHERS think it's bad, but then you go on to bash a Destructoid review from TWO PEOPLE who liked The Darkness (who said it was good, not great) and you claim to knnow that the game is actually crap and your opinion MUST be right.

Well let me just say that we're kind of reversing the roles here. Sure, YOU like the game, but it's ENTIRELY safe to say that it is, in fact, a BAD GAME. And that 60% average for the game has been completely padded by the fact that only TWO media outlets gave it above an 8 (and 8 and a 9 respectively) while the mode of the reviews is much closer to a 5/10.

Your opinion is not final. And what the hell's up with caling out Artadius for simply ASKING something POLITELY of another forum member? Who the fuck are YOU?

Oh, and by the way, I LOVE the Jean Claude Van Damme version of Street Fighter. It's HILARIOUSLY AWESOME. But just because I liked it doesn't mean it's a good movie. People have even given good reviews to Uwe Boll movies! If you liked one of HIS movies instead, would that make the WORLD wrong? HUH?!
SgtBilbo's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 12:24
SgtBilbo
Wah. Like we expected Eggebrecht to actually own up to his f**k up? Minor problem...it "hardcore" gamers and reviewers hate motion control, then why did Warhawk score well? I've been playing w/ the motion controls and, once you get used to it, its FAR more responsive than Lair. Maybe Factor 5 needs to smile like a donut for Sony to get more info on how to program a playable game...
demon_beast82's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 13:01
demon_beast82
Factor 5 should have listened to criticism about the controls and at least added thumb-stick controls to fall back on. It's weird how it never occurred to them that people would want different option in the control schemes.
ArrestedDeveloper's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 13:38
ArrestedDeveloper
Every time I hear the guy talk about lair he always blames people for being hardcore gamers and not adapting from their old ways and that new players never have problems controling the dragon. Funny thing is who but a hardcore player would a) own a PS3 and b) want to buy lair.
LostCrichton's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 13:45
LostCrichton
I had hopes that this would be one of a few games that would make me finally get a PS3 but after watching a few videos and reading the reviews I think I'll wait a bit longer.
rabidkeebler's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 13:53
rabidkeebler
@SgtBilbo

Exactly, and look at the score for Metroid Prime Corruption (the best motion controls for a game ever in my opinion). Lair has recieved 3 good reviews total. And plenty of players are bashing it as well. Basically it was overhyped and probably had pressure from sony to implement motion control.

http://www.gamestats.com/objects/761/761161//articles.html

Punk0's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 14:10
Punk0
The idea of flying around on a dragon for an entire game just does nothing for me (even if you can land and fry troops). It didn't when Panzer Dragoon was getting great reviews, and it doesn't now.

And Action Bastard: The problem with Orcist’s opinion of Mass Effect was that his headline made it sound like he actually played the game (ME is disappointing). Everyone had already seen what the facial animations look like and formed their own opinions. The game may turn out great, or make me wish I was playing Lair, but Orcist has no idea at this point and he wanted to sound like he was the first person with an objective opinion on the game. It really made me think of this site as being written by amateurs (which I guess is the point of the site?).
Chibi_Zero's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 14:23
Chibi_Zero
"Basically it was overhyped and probably had pressure from sony to implement motion control."

That wouldn't be surprising. I mean Nintendo did pretty much the same thing with both the DS and Wii.
kawitchate's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 15:24
kawitchate
i've only played an hour of the game but the controls aren't *that* bad. that said, i have heard that later levels will make me eat those words... i'm actually more disappointed with some of the background in-game graphics (though cutscene graphics are AMAZING).

my snap judgment review would be somewhere around a 7 out of 10.

i guess we'll find out what i really think of the whole package after i'm done with BioShock.
Deathsaw's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 15:36
Deathsaw
At least we figured out it was the gamers fault. If you can't create something that the hardcore gamers can get behind, you just lost the reason for making the game in the first place.
boxhound's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 18:57
boxhound
Too bad, so sad. I feel little sympathy for Factor 5 from here on out. At least we still have the Rogue Squadron games to soothe the pain.
frankenwookie's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 19:10
frankenwookie
If anyone here owns LAIR, please try it after the firmware 1.92 update. I was one of the first people to start the public flogging of this game, but after the update it is really pretty great. The lock on feature is still a little wonky, but otherwise it actually controls very well. Not perfect, but deserves at least a 7.5/ 8 score after update. It's not for everyone, but I consider myself a hardcore gamer and I was playing games way before GTA, like 25 years before.
DinnertimeNinja's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 23:14
DinnertimeNinja
@Arrested Developer

EXCELLENT point. At this stage, even though basically ALL of my friends would consider themselves to be "hardcore gamers," I only have ONE friend with a PS3. That's because he's harcore AND has a ton of disposable income.


@frankenwookie

Did they change the sensitivity or the accuracy of the motion controls or something? Does anyone even know what they updated with that firmware?


@ActionBastard

NEVAR!! Anyway, sorry for the parenting. I get worked up sometimes. AND EAT YOUR PEAS!
Boolean's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/05/2007 23:27
Boolean
"I'm only on level 4 and so far it hasn' tbeen bad"

Well theres why. IGN said themselves that the first few levels, the ones they played in all the glowing previews, are really quite good. The targets are spread out, the controls work well with that, and its not too bad. It's once you hit mission 5 and onwards that the target gets clumped together and everything goes to shit. I'd really like to hear your opinion of it once you play through the next few levels.
Burnt Meatloaf's Avatar - Comment posted on 09/06/2007 06:14
Burnt Meatloaf
Does the PS3 emit stupidity rays, or something? Every day that goes by, it seems that just about everyone willing to work with the platform just can't stop thinking about pixel shaders for two damn minutes so they realize, "hey, the controls are pretty bad."

Factor5 used to be good for a long time, and they've been around for a VERY long time.

Even Insomniac and Sucker Punch have me worried, now. Coming from a 200% R&C and Sly Cooper fan, that says a lot.
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